#1984? Don't get my ass started. I'd fight that guy in the street (the MC)

[mandareeboo]

Sending an ask for the sake of ease. My biggest piece of advice is to suss out your strongest niche skill, see how it connects to your other, more mainstream strong skills, and then find what that can tie to and you would enjoy. By niche skill, I mean the rarest thing you can do that most other people can't.

In my case, this is what I did. I'm a strong writer and a good speaker, which both have a great many career options. A step further than that, I'm politically adept. Opens more options, closes some, still doesn't give any solid answers. Moving in a little tighter, I'm adaptable, adventurous, and love trying new things. Admittedly, those kinda sound like filler words that you plop on a resume... but they also combine to make me /very/ adept at traveling, including to countries with a language barrier. I haven't lived anywhere for more than a year since I was eighteen. I don't have any relationships or investments that tie me to one specific place. That then lands on my most niche skill; I am able to drop everything and go to the other side of the planet at the drop of a dime.

When I call that niche, I'm referring to the difference between "I'd love a job that will let me travel" and "I can get on a flight to the other side of the country with less than 24 hours notice" and "I can handle getting stranded in an unfamiliar city in a foreign country for multiple days with minimal stress". I'm the latter two. I've done the latter two. That opens up opportunities for me that realistically aren't feasible to most people.

I love travel, so I leaned into that, went on study abroad multiple times over the course of grad school, and got accepted into one of asia's top international communications programs to pursue my master's degree. I'm admittedly still not sure if I plan on leaning more into travel/culture or international politics, but I'll probably figure it out over the next few years.

I hope that helps!

Forgot to mention! I obviously don't know your biggest strengths personally, but for what it's worth, I'd consider adding ghostwriting to the list of things to consider, even if only for a financial stopgap. (My intended stopgap is travel articles and photography. I thrive on being predictable in this way.) It's effectively the same skillset as taking fic commissions; being able to write characters other people created for a story determined by someone else. It's a genuine skill that a lot of people can't manage. (me. it's me. i can't do it)

Honestly, I'm not even sure what my biggest strengths are! I can write, obviously, I've been doing it for over a decade, but beyond that? It's a lil sketchy chief.

I actually like working customer service? Like at grocery stores- lane or stocking. I know there's real assholes out there, I've had quite a few, but most of the time it's just people trying to go about their lives. I've had some awesome convos in the lane. The problem is that I lost my ability to stand for that long- I can only stand for like an hour, tops- and while I'm trying to get into physical therapy to strengthen my muscles, I'll never be able to do what I used to. I also don't qualify as diabled, so I can't force a business to give me a chair. It sucks. I'm still trying to grasp where to go from there lol. I prided myself on being someone who could work the extra time and lift the heavy things for people. I knew I'd eventually lose my ability to do so, but in my twenties? Yeesh.

I didn't do a lot of extracurriculars in school. I had really bad anxiety, and couldn't function well at that age. The only thing I did that stuck is volleyball, which I quit in high school. I can play basic flute? I love music, but I couldn't give you, like, the technical terms of all of it.

I'm a big fan of dusty old books, though! I've always liked reading old english. I learn new things every page! And being in an unfamiliar dialect doesn't mean they don't have some legitimately great bangers. I also like theology- I think discussions of religion, when technical, are fascinating. Maybe I could get a career outta something to do with that?

Thank you so much for the advice! I'll have to do some serious pondering about it all.